Unreasonable tenant agreement?

Thanks for all the comments! I have signed the agreement with the landlord.

Cheers.

HenryBG said :

troll-sniffer said :

but the landlord is still bound to give 26 weeks notice unless they claim they are moving in or performing renovations.

In other words no landlord is ever required to give 26 weeks notice because they can substitute for that notice period any old story they like.

One of the most pathetically useless chunks of legislation ever. Which clown wrote it?

I wonder if this is true? The tenancy union appears to differ, but I find it a bit vague too…

troll-sniffer said :

but the landlord is still bound to give 26 weeks notice unless they claim they are moving in or performing renovations.

In other words no landlord is ever required to give 26 weeks notice because they can substitute for that notice period any old story they like.

One of the most pathetically useless chunks of legislation ever. Which clown wrote it?

actually the notice period after when the fixed term has expired is 21 days (just had it happen on one of mine).

As the others have said the clause is applicable within the fixed term that ll parties reasonable expect that you would continue to occupy the property, if you think you won’t stay that long then ask for a shorter term. and yes they can ask it in part because the market is tight in Canberra.

geoffappleby said :

Doesn’t unusual to me at all – I’ve never seen a lease _not_ have that clause.
It only counts for the initial lease period. After that time, you can leave at any time (with notice) (and they can boot you at any time…again with notice.)

Not quite, after the lease has ended and the tenancy is periodic, usually monthly, the tenant need only give 4 weeks (?) notice but the landlord is still bound to give 26 weeks notice unless they claim they are moving in or performing renovations. It’s rarely a problem for either party but it does offer a tenant a certain degree of security that they don’t have to be upended willy nilly at the whim of the owner. After all, rented or not, a home is still a home to a lot of people.

Standard everywhere, move along

Of course it’s reasonable. Let’s say you move out in the first week of December. You signed a lease in May and I thought I had a tenant til next May. What with Christmas and everything, let’s say I don’t get a tenant moving in til the end of January. Should I have to front 1-2 months of mortgage payments without income, because you chose the worst possible time to break your contract and thought you should only be held accountable for three weeks of it?

DUB said :

Very reasonable agreement.
You can find more info here:
http://www.tenantsact.org.au/RentingAdvice

My concern is that you like the place, but thinking of breaking a lease in advance. Have you done that before?

Id be wondering that last part myself.

The standard term for notice is 30 days.

Now, in terms of breaking a lease, you need to meet the reasonable expenses incurred by the landlord in breaking that lease. Unfortunately, that can entail paying rent until a new tenant moves in. As other posters mentioned though, it’s usually not a problem to find someone in Canberra.

If you do break the lease though and someone else moves in immediately, make sure they don’t ping you for lease ending fees and 30 days of rent (this is not legal)

This website will help: http://www.tenantsact.org.au/rentingAdvice/tenancy-factsheets/Ending-a-Tenancy-and-Breaking-a-Lease

It is good to familiarise with your rights. But most landlords who are on the up-and-up should abide by the law.

The OP says they’re looking for a ‘room’. I took that to mean either a) it’s some kind of agreement with the tenant who is on the lease, with whatever degree of formality or b) it’s a situation where there is more than one person on the lease, and one of the outgoing tenants is transferring their room/obligations to the incoming tenant (the OP).

If a) then it is really a matter for discussion with the tenant from whom you are subleasing, flexibility comes at the expense of having less security of tenure. If b) then you are taking on the normal requirements of any tenant leasing a property during the fixed term of the lease.